Returning to the West End

 Theatre has played a prominent role in my life for a while now. When I was younger I had my eyes set on becoming a famous actor but by the time I got into senior school my pessimism became strong enough to make me abandon such a career path. However, my love of the theatre has remained ever since and I have particularly become infatuated with all things musical theatre. So much so that in 2019 I was able to see around 7 musicals alone as well as a couple of plays. Seeing a musical whether on the West end or at my campus theatre would always cheer me up and bring a sense of happiness and magic that I could find no where else in my everyday existence. Therefore when theatres closed down in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic you can imagine how sad I was, especially as I had a show booked for the following day. 

It had been over a year and half since I had stepped foot inside a theatre, having luckily seen a show in the February before the pandemic hit. But on Tuesday evening I finally ventured into the West End again and took my seat for my first show since before the pandemic hit. Things in the theatre itself weren't too different from what I was used to from a regular theatre trip, long queues for the toilet and the bar as well as the usual uncomfortable theatre seats. The main change was that we had to keep our mask on during the performance. 

But when initially entering the theatre and siting down it hadn't quite hit me that I was there to see a show, that I was going to experience live musical theatre again. During the Covid lockdowns I did have the ability to watch recordings of shows via youtube channels such as The Shows Must Go On, and whilst appreciative that I had some access to the theatre, It was nothing like watching it live. So when the lights went down and a lone figure walked out on the stage playing the accordion I could feel a shiver run down my spine as all the memories of what it's like to see theatre live came rushing back. By the end of the first song I could feel the magic of the theatre again. I think this was greatly helped by the fact that the opener was such a beautiful  song which cleverly introduced you to the characters of the show whilst the actors played instruments on the stage and sang in beautiful harmony. By the end of the show I was already itching to listen to the soundtrack and plan out the next shows I wanted to see. It truly felt like a part of me that was missing had returned. 

Whilst my gushing about theatre and its magic may not resonate with everyone reading this and may seen slightly over-dramatic I think my next paragraph will talk of something more can agree with. Theatre as a general art form is vastly under appreciated. The government seemed to place no interest in maintaining the theatre community during the heights of the pandemic. Indeed, many freelance theatre workers such as musicians were forced to find new jobs unrelated to their career, whilst many theatre shows did not reopen due to lack of support from the government. The theatre community largely relied on charity to keep going during lockdown. It was further proven that the government had little care about the performing arts when lockdown started to be lifted as whilst thousands were let into sports games throughout both this year and last, theatres remained in darkness. To worsen the situation it seemed like few of the general public cared that the theatres remained closed for a year and half. Whilst a lot of can placed down to the fact that theatre is rather inaccessible for those who do not live near a theatre or cannot afford tickets, it still saddens me that the theatre seemed to be forgotten by most during the pandemic. Hopefully with the rise of live show recordings, such as that of Hamilton or Come From Away theatre can once again become a popular art form as it has been through out history. 

Seeing theatre live once again for the first time in 19 months truly made me realise how much I missed it as well as how much I didn't appreciate when it was around. It also made me realise how in general theatre  is such an under appreciated medium of entertainment given how much magic it can bring.